Pleased with the efforts of his demonic
protégé, Screwtape nevertheless cautioned Wormwood not to waken his waffling churchgoing
"patient" to "a sense of his real position." In
chapter XII of C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape
further warns Wormwood that his patient "must not be allowed to suspect
that he is now, however slowly, heading right away from the sun on a line which
will carry him into the cold and dark of utmost space."
Screwtape goes on to contend
that the man's church attendance could even be used as an advantage in their
demonic schemes. He explains:
As long as he retains externally the habits of a
Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few
new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was
six weeks ago [before he became a Christian]. And while he thinks
that, we do not have to contend with the explicit repentance of a definite,
fully recognized, sin, but only with his vague, though uneasy, feeling that he
hasn't been doing very well lately.
After all, Screwtape concludes:
It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that
their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the
Nothing[.] ... Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle
slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without
signposts.
Fewer and fewer Americans these days seem willing "to contend
with the explicit repentance of a definite, fully recognized,
sin." Of course, to a great extent, this is because fewer and
fewer Americans are able to recognize what is sin – or many Americans are
simply becoming comfortable with their sin and are eagerly strolling along the
"gentle slope" to Hell.
In a foolish desire to be "relevant" or
"tolerant," churches
across the world have abandoned long heeded truths for
heresy. This is especially the case when it comes to matters in the
sexual realm.
At this point in the moral
wars, if you are a Christian, you almost certainly should well know where
your church stands on the issues of homosexuality, same-sex
"marriage," and any other manifestation of sexual
immorality. If your church's position on such grave matters is
unclear, you should be asking yourself and your church leadership why this is
the case.
If your church is refusing to confront these grave matters bravely
and truthfully, you should seek to change that. If the church
refuses, you should find another body of fellowship. Likewise, if
you are a lover of the truth, any church you've attended that has already gone
the way of the world on homosexuality, marriage, and the like should now be
your former church.
In other words, there is a war raging within the church, and it is
long past time to choose sides and get in the fight. Decades of fake
Christians peddling fake Christianity – along with lazy, ignorant, lukewarm,
and sometimes hypocritical congregations – have allowed the moral lines for
what was and was not sin in the sexual realm to be blurred or altogether
redrawn.
As a result, the battles over sex and sexuality in our culture
have largely been lost. A wide array of sexually immoral behaviors
is now deemed
acceptable by significant portions of our culture. At least
sixty percent of Americans view same-sex "marriage," homosexuality,
and fornication (sex outside marriage) as morally acceptable. Our
courts, corporations, schools, legislatures, and the like have taken
notice. Most every significant institution in the U.S. now widely
embraces evil. The church doesn't seem far behind.
It should come as little surprise that so many who call themselves
Christians want to go the way of the world on sexual matters. This
is especially true of those under 30. Their teachers, professors,
bosses, TV shows, movies, et al. fully embrace the perverse LGBT agenda, so why
shouldn't their church? Some church leaders – those unequipped,
misled, or with a corporate (as opposed to a biblical) mindset who hope that
surrender on sex will grow their numbers – have agreed.
The sexual morality presented by Christianity stands in stark
contrast to the sexual immorality proffered by the perverse LGBT
agenda. In spite of the clear and unmistakable message of Scripture
and centuries of church teachings on sex, family, and marriage, there is a
growing movement among Christians to ignore or flat out deny what God has long
said on these grave matters. As the body of Christ is supposed to be
the first and last line of defense with such spiritual darkness, this
capitulation has led to increased battle grounds in this war.
As many of us well know, these battles are all around us: in bakeries, flower
shops, adoption
agencies, track
meets, libraries, the
military, schools (see here for a
shocking list of the perversions occurring in K-12 government schools), and
yes, tragically, even in the
church (Catholic, Protestant,
and "born-again" former
presidents who teach Sunday school). Thus, whether we
desire it or not, whether we are engaged or not, almost every single American
has already been touched by this war.
Though many of us are now witnessing things we formerly thought
sheer nonsense or impossible – and
horrific – as with most things in the human condition, what we
Christians are facing today in the sexual realm is not as new as it may
seem. The scourge of sexual immorality pervasive in the "City
of Man" has long plagued God's people.
Since near the beginning of time, human beings have sought to shed
the tenets of our Creator and go our own way. This is especially
true when it comes to our sexuality. Much of the history of ancient
Israel, as described by the Old Testament, included the struggle of the Jewish
people with idolatry, false gods, and sexual immorality. Whether through
Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech, or any other such demon, the people of God were often
led into obscene sexual activities, along with other vile wickedness such as
human – including infant – sacrifice (which some of today's
liberals defend).
In spite of the widespread embrace of the left's lies on sex, as
was the case with Israel, a remnant of truth-tellers will
remain. The size of that remnant will, to a great extent, be
determined by the willingness of the church to fight for the
truth. Those who've made a god of sex already own the Democratic
Party, Hollywood, social media, the drive-by media, the government schools, and
so on. We can't afford to give away any more ground, and certainly
not within the church.
Trevor Grant Thomas: At the Intersection of Politics,
Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America.
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of The Miracle and Magnificence of America.
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/09/the_church_sexual_immorality_and_fake_christianity.html